Bwa-Drain Mine

Overview

Bwa-Drain Mine was a lead and silver mine in the Melindwr community of Ceredigion, above the Rheidol valley, worked from 1867 to 1876 and drained by a waterwheel-driven pump on the River Rheidol.

History

Bwa-Drain Mine lies on the high moorland ridge of Banc Bwa-Drain in upland Ceredigion, land that by the 18th century belonged to the Nanteos and Gogerddan estates. The mine itself was worked over a short but productive period from 1867 to 1876, raising 1,322.5 tons of lead ore and around 22,000 ounces of silver -- a substantial return for a mine worked for less than a decade. Water for pumping the workings was drawn from the River Rheidol and used to drive a waterwheel-powered pumping engine. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales's own record of the site draws on notes written to accompany photography taken by Arthur Chater in 1969, itself based on earlier survey work. The Northern Mine Research Society's index of Cardiganshire mines lists it as Bwadrain Mine, Cwmrheidol, alongside a separate South Bwadrain, both covered in its British Mining No. 12. Ceredigion Archives holds a plan of the mine, and the national mine plans catalogue lists a plan of 'Bwadrian's Mine or Dol Fawr' on the same Ordnance Survey sheet, which may be the same working.

Geology

A lead lode whose ore carried silver.

Workings

The mine was drained by a waterwheel-driven pumping engine, powered by water drawn from the River Rheidol.

Closure

Worked until 1876; no reason for its closure is recorded.

What remains

A disused lead mine on Banc Bwa-Drain; a plan of the workings survives in the Ceredigion Archives (reference MUS/88).

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The BGS / Mining Remediation Authority catalogue lists a plan titled 'Bwadrian's Mine or Dol Fawr', referenced SN77NW 8 — the same map sheet as Coflein's record for Bwa-Drain; it may be this mine. (uncertain) ⁵

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The mine was worked from 1867 to 1876, producing 1,322.5 tons of lead and around 22,000 ounces of silver, drained by a pumping device driven by a waterwheel on the Rheidol. ¹
• The surrounding upland, Banc Bwa-Drain, belonged by the 18th century to the Nanteos and/or Gogerddan estates -- the same landowning families behind other Ceredigion lead-mining ventures in the district. ²
• Ceredigion Archives holds a plan of Bwa Drain mine (MUS/88), cross-referenced from its catalogue of abandoned metal mine plans deposited by H.M. Principal Inspector of Mines in 1992. ³
• NMRS indexes Bwadrain Mine, Cwmrheidol, and a separate South Bwadrain, each described in British Mining No. 12 (p. 60–61). ⁴
• The BGS / Mining Remediation Authority catalogue lists a plan titled 'Bwadrian's Mine or Dol Fawr', referenced SN77NW 8 — the same map sheet as Coflein's record for Bwa-Drain; it may be this mine. (uncertain) ⁵
• Coflein places the disused lead mine near Bwa-Drain at grid reference SN7116279711, in Melindwr community. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Bwa-Drain Lead Mine (NPRN 420247) — Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
2. (secondary) Banc Bwa-Drain — Heneb: Cambrian Archaeological Projects (Historic Landscape Characterisation)
3. (primary) T/AMP: Abandoned Mine Plans – catalogue (with cross-reference to MUS/88, plan of Bwa Drain mine) — Ceredigion Archives
4. (secondary) Index of articles on Cardiganshire published by NMRS — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Bwadrian's Mine or Dol Fawr (SN77NW 8) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 1 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026